‘Games car park has turned Hough End into Stalag 13’

Stephen Holmes is furious public land will be used as a games car park.

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A DOG walker has lambasted Commonwealth Games organisers for turning Hough End Playing Fields into 'Stalag 13'.

Stephen Holmes said he had not heard anything about the plans to turn the public fields into a car park until he arrived for his daily walk with beloved pet Emma, a Rhodesian ridgeback cross aged three, to find a 10ft fence being erected around the grounds.

Mr Holmes, 42, said: "The fencing arrived on Thursday and on Friday I was absolutely bewildered to see how quickly they had transformed what was an open field into something resembling Stalag 13."

"The security is excessive with the height of the fence and the guards patrolling 24 hours."

He said: "I go to the fields every day with my dog, and there are a lot of us."

"Some people are saying 'fair enough' as it is just for the Commonwealth Games but I feel it is a local amenity that is being taken away.

"There has been no consultation that I was aware of that they were going to do this. I feel it is the thin end of the wedge."

Mr Holmes, of Thurlwood Avenue in Withington, said he believes using the fields could set a 'precedent' for using the land in the future which could even see it being built on.

"The local community has had access to the fields for years. The covenant on the land when it was donated by Lord Egerton say it must be used for recreational purposes," he said.

"I feel that there is more and more open land being taken away and I feel it is being eroded.

"I think it has a devastating effect on the area. It is the start of the decline.

"We have been reduced to to using the small field and are trying to walk our dogs on an area where other people are trying to play football or cricket. We cannot let our dogs off the lead."

He added: "I am not impressed at all and am quite angry really. I just feel that we have been treated with contempt. To me the fields mean a lot."

A spokesperson for the Games said: "Hough End is being used as a car park for members of Crew 2002 during the Games.

"It covers just ten acres of the approximately 50 acres at Hough End leaving plenty of space for regular visitors to enjoy."